Dietary Correlates of the Origin and Radiation of Snakes
Dietary Correlates of the Origin and Radiation of Snakes
复制标题
蛇的起源和辐射的饮食相关性
DOI：
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发表时间：
1983
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
H. Greene
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
H. Greene
胃分析的生活家庭和化石含有猎物被用来解决可能的饮食相关的蛇的历史。类人猿，在现存的蛇中形态原始，以相对较重、细长的脊椎动物为食。大型类人猿比小型类人猿吃更大的猎物，但和高级蛇类一样，它们也吃小东西。现存的蛇类，在结构上介于aniliids和高级蛇之间，以相对较重的猎物为食，其形状比aniliids多得多。一个始新世的化石可能是一个体，在它的肠道里有一个相对较大的鳄鱼。这些发现、先前的研究和形态学上的考虑表明，非常早期的蛇使用收缩和有力的下颚来捕食细长、沉重的猎物。这将允许从经常吃小东西到很少吃重东西的转变，而不需要最初相对于蜥蜴类祖先在颌骨结构上发生重大变化。随后的形态变化可能使boids能够利用广泛的猎物类型，包括许多目前被高级蛇吃掉的猎物。最近的饮食主题包括高毒性的眼镜蛇和蝰蛇消耗更重的猎物，以及其他一些高级蛇经常以相对较小的食物为食。
Stomach analyses of living families and of a fossil containing prey were used to address possible dietary correlates of the history of snakes. Aniliids, morphologically primitive among living snakes, feed on relatively heavy, elongate vertebrates. Large aniliids eat larger prey than do small individuals but, as in advanced snakes, they also take small items. Living boids, structurally intermediate between aniliids and advanced snakes, feed on relatively heavy prey of a much greater variety of shapes than do aniliids. An Eocene fossil that might be a boid contains a relatively large crocodilian in its gut. These findings, previous studies, and morphological considerations suggest that very early snakes used constriction and powerful jaws to feed on elongate, heavy prey. This would have permitted a shift from feeding often on small items to feeding rarely on heavy items, without initially requiring major changes in jaw structure relative to a lizard-like ancestor. Subsequent morphological changes could then have allowed boids to utilize a broad range of prey types, including many of those currently eaten by advanced snakes. More recent dietary themes include the consumption of even heavier prey by highly venomous elapids and viperids, and frequent feeding on relatively small items by some other advanced snakes.